VATICAN CITY, June 6 (UPI) -- At his weekly address in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope Francis attacked the "culture of waste" and said wasting food is like stealing from the poor.

"Consumerism has led us to become used to an excess and daily waste of food, to which, at times we are no longer able to give a just value," the pope said. "Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of the poor and the hungry."

The pope dedicated his audience, which attracted thousands of pilgrims from around the world, to the U.N. World Environment Day, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The pope and the U.S. government might be on the same page when it comes to food waste. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday the U.S. Food Waste Challenge calling on others across the food chain -- including producer groups, processors, manufacturers, retailers, communities and other government agencies -- to reduce, recover and recycle food waste.

snip

"Food waste is the single largest type of waste entering our landfills -- Americans throw away up to 40 percent of their food," Perciasepe said in a statement. "Addressing this issue not only helps with combating hunger and saving money, but also with combating climate change: food in landfills decomposes to create potent greenhouse gases."

None of my family members are overweight, and I doubt that anyone in my family wastes enough food for even a small meal in the course of a week (or two). “Stealing from the poor” is a little harsh, but buying excess and then wasting that food increases demand, which does reduce what the very poor can afford to buy.

21
posted on 06/06/2013 5:42:03 PM PDT
by Pollster1
("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)

buying excess and then wasting that food increases demand, which does reduce what the very poor can afford to buy.

In a free market, the increased demand would lead to more of a commodity being produced as suppliers competed to meet the demand.

Hunger in the modern world is the result of the political decisions made in the areas where it is a problem. It is not a supply/demand problem and it has no relation to the waste of food in prosperous societies--that is just silly.

I was brought up by parents who were children of the Depression and WW2 rationing, and my grandparents had been outright poor when they were children, so I grew up with the “don’t waste food” adage drummed into me.

As an adult I decided it was even worse to treat my body as a garbage can, to make myself consume what I didn’t want and what would only make me fat rather than throwing it away. I don’t push the “don’t waste food” on my children either if they don’t want to finish - rather I encourage them to take a smaller portion to start with and then take more if they are still hungry.

In this case, the Pope is in error. Starvation in the entire world has, for decades, not been because of a shortage of food, or an unwillingness to deliver it to those in need; but of local tyrants who strive to *prevent* that food from getting to people he despises and wants to starve. Even most wars no longer block the flow of food.

Both America and Europe stockpile thousands of tons of food each year that rots. They do this so many farmers are not ruined by bumper harvests. America, for one, has spent a fortune to develop seeds grains that can grown in much of the world. We give that grain away for free, “to teach men to fish”.

America still has such a surplus of food that it wastes vast amounts of corn to make ethanol. Just using gasoline would save enough corn to feed entire nations. But would ruin their farmers.

And you, as a person, could eat every bite of food you need, not wasting any, and it would feed nobody but you.

Has he actually TRIED to give away excess food? (And not from a position of such great influence.) Not like you just put it in a box addressed to “Poor, India” and mail it off.

I’ve come into a regular supply of unwanted bread on a weekly basis. I mean cubic yards of bread. Figuring out what to do with it was a major problem. “Well, just donate it to a charity.” Easy for whoever to say. Hard to actually do: find a recipient willing to take perishable food in non-sealed containers within a sane distance and able to receive, process, and distribute so most of it is consumed before it goes bad (2-5 days). Took months to find a suitable charity. And that’s not addressing the logistics of the charity getting huge piles of food distributed.

We’re all blessed with enough food that so much is wasted. Waste isn’t the problem. Getting food to the poor, often with active opposition, is.

32
posted on 06/06/2013 6:29:04 PM PDT
by ctdonath2
(Making good people helpless doesn't make bad people harmless.)

Think about how fat we would all be if we didn't throw half our food away!

I hate wasting food but what about those expiration dates they keep stamping on the food packaging? How can anybody eat food that is past it's expiration date? Even if it doesn't look spoiled, you just get a funny feeling eating it and if you think too hard, you get the urge to throw up.

Sometimes I go through my refrigerator and cabinets with a large garbage back, throwing away all food items that are past (or even close to) an expiration date. For example, I throw out some soup cans recently that had an expiration date of July 2014. Now cans are supposed to last for years and years so if the expiration date is only a year away, how long do you figure those cans were sitting around doing nothing? My stomach turns just thinking about opening that can up.

I am definitely an expiration date paranoid. Once I threw out bottled water because it was close to its expiration date. Bottled water? I never knew that stuff even expired. But I wasn't taking any chances. If I'm going to keep bottled water around the house, I'm going to make sure it's fresh.

How will a starving child in Africa benefit if I overeat instead of leaving food on my plate when I'm full? I can't ship them the leftovers. It would not be suitable for human consumption once it gets there. There is plenty of food to be had in the world. It's not hard to grow enough to feed everyone. We know how. The problems where there is starvation are political. Most countries in Africa are political hellholes. In America, with all the soup kitchens, EBT cards and other safety nets, every starving child can directly be traced to a neglectful or abusive adult. Lack of food is not the problem.

36
posted on 06/06/2013 7:27:25 PM PDT
by BitWielder1
(Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)

No disrespect to the Pope, but most food waste in America is due to government interference and excessive regulations, not to consumerism at all. From waste cans full of “free lunch” food at schools, to roll-offs full of food that is perfectly good, but has fallen awry of some ridiculous rule or regulation, most food waste is due to this. I have worked in food banks and food kitchens, and this is where the waste comes from.

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